Archives for May 2013

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Far from the drool encrusted books of my graduate studies and the lectures that seem to drone on for lifetimes, I’m traveling between three different time zones in two days. Traipsing through well-worn airports, convenient foods glisten with a preservative-laced sheen that scream, “buy me!” Somehow, it feels like vacations and travel are excuses to break free from the bounds of reality. This is where frugaling can crumble.

Oftentimes, the frugaling rules I set are adapted and designed for a home environment. The breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that I make save hundreds of dollars per year. When I venture beyond the refrigerator and packed lunches, frugaling unravels and I lose the rules that are righting my course back to zero debt.

When I was growing up, my family would go on exceptionally affordable vacations and generally stay with people we knew. Even then, we would buy soda, juices, and bottled water on the go. When we got hungry, we’d often eat out. Generally, we attributed this to a new place: different restaurants to try, wanting to make the most of our time, and/or not sure that we could find food to make and pack.

In reality, we could’ve done more. In my recent years, I haven’t done more. But now, my spending habits are changing. As I took a brief pit stop at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, on my way to Los Angeles, my stomach began to churn. I was hungry and ready to eat anything: burgers, fries, donuts – you name it. I walked around the gigantic airport and found any number of places that would satiate my fancies. I approached two restaurants, stared into their food displays, and fumbled for my credit card. But each time, I slowly walked away. The $2.30 banana nut muffin wouldn’t break my bank, but it wasn’t frugal or necessary. Embarrassingly, I would approach the glass displays with lust for everything.

Instead, I slowly boarded my connecting flight and pulled out a tattered granola bar. The unsatisfying flavor made me question my decision to keep my credit card tucked away. But as the energy bar began to digest, the pains and urges to buy food abated. I had satisfied the hunger and craving.

It spoke to my competing biological and psychological desires: one for food and one for money. Frequently, fast, convenient options prey off the former, at the expense of the latter. By accepting the discomfort, we can save and still satisfy. Now that’s frugaling.

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Seemingly borne from Walden Pond, a new movement that converges minimalism with frugality is upon us. More and more students are choosing to live in cars, vans, and automobiles to skip the rent and save a boatload. In this era of debt and student loan worries, saving $400 to $700 per month looks plenty appetizing, but should you consider it?

“I am convinced, that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be unknown. These take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Over the years, I entertained the idea of moving into my car (or buying a van) to avoid the monthly punishment of the rent check. A variety of factors prevented me from ever going through with it. The biggest concern was for my safety. If somebody found out you were living in a van or saw what was inside, they may be tempted to rob the vehicle (whether you’re inside or not). On top of that, it can be legally questionable to park a vehicle and live out of it.

About a year ago, a college friend started sharing on Facebook about his recent decision to move into a van for his senior year. Now, he’s a week away from graduating and saying goodbye to the lifestyle. The crazier piece: He’s not alone (Read the Thor-eauvian van-dwelling experiment in NYTimes). This is a movement towards extreme debt reduction and an attempt to attack the status quo of poverty via education.

With the debt collector ready to pounce, maybe it’s time to get proactive. College is only getting more expensive, as state budgets are being slashed and the students’ share of tuition becomes more burdensome. But before you go for it, here are five points to consider:

1. Big Savings

No doubt, this is the biggest reason to extricate yourself from the bounds of four walls. Utilities and pointless tchotchkes be gone! As mentioned earlier, this could save you anywhere from about 400 to 700 dollars per month (depending on where you live), plus electricity costs. Even cooking costs plummet, as your options for food diminish. Most van-dwellers have some sort of backpacking and camping experience. Knowing how to use a portable, backpacking stove or gas can is key to cooking warm meals. And while you can cook, most of it will likely be soup. Get used to it. Most of the furniture we fill our homes with won’t fit. Selling the extras and/or avoiding the purchase can keep more money in your pocket.

Savings: $400+ per month.

2. Little Space

This would obviously depend on the “living quarters” that you choose. I can imagine campers being a relatively easy way to live, but many are choosing cheaper options. For about 1,000 to 2,000 dollars, students can buy a beat up, junker, passenger van. While they may not be reliable or start whenever you like, you can usually fit a bed, chair, food, and clothing inside.

Cost: $1,000-2,000 (one time).

3. Questionable Hygiene

Living in a van down by the school might suggest shower-free weeks and body-odor-ridden clothing, but that doesn’t necessarily have to happen. Campuses tend to have great recreational facilities that have showers. Usually, if you’re a student, you can just swipe your ID and you’re free to shower and prep for the day. Laundry facilities tend to dot the landscape of college towns, and as long as you can transport your laundry to one of them, you’re fine. By using public facilities for showering and cleaning, you’ll be saving money and being green, which would otherwise go to utilities.

Savings: ~$50-60 per month.

4. Mostly Safe

Living in an unguarded shelter is a daunting task, and seems to attract more men than women (perhaps for obvious reasons). In a way, a vehicle is no different from an apartment – someone could break into either one of them and rob you. But a vehicle is open to dangers from police, crooks, and environmental (flooding, storms, etc.) considerations that you generally avoid in formal housing.

Cost: Possibly your sanity.

5. Sometimes Connected

Being connected means far more than having Wi-Fi, Internet, and electricity. Fundamentally, it’s about human connection and the comforts of a social life. By choosing this lifestyle, it might preclude certain friendships and relationships from developing. It’s hard to invite guests over to your van for more than just the voyeuristic spectacle. As for mail, getting a P.O. box or choosing a friend’s address can work. Going to campus or the library can be your perfect way to study and surf the web, as well.

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This past Thursday, The Daily Show went into the field with Aasif Mandvi to explore the student loan debt crisis with high school students. They had a college graduate with $170,000 debt spew out warnings and cautionary notes about the woes of student loans. His four-year, private education left him shackled with debt.

The Daily Show is brilliant with their splices, clips, and cuts, but I wonder how much the students can listen. We’ve been conditioned to believe that college comes next. Until Congress can fix the system, maybe high school students should look elsewhere.

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I recently had a long conversation about being frugal with my partner when I was in Los Angeles. The dialogue spanned the gamut of ideas and things we could each do to cut down on waste and save some money in the process. Packing lunches, spending less on entertainment, and enjoying the company of others (a free activity) dominated the list. Then, the conversation turned to ways that I frugally make money.

She had long noticed I kept different piles in the recycling, and assumed that I sorted it. In a way, she was right – I did sort it. I told her the purpose was to take advantage of Iowa’s bottle deposit/refund of five cents for each one.

Her grin turned to a smirk and then to a chuckle and then into uncontrollable laughter. “You’re really saving the cans for the bottle deposit?” She said. In that moment I wondered who was the crazy one. How could she pass up five cents? Why wouldn’t I try and get that refund? I get money back and recycle in the process! I began to explain how I had grabbed cans from classmates and out of trash cans to get the bottle deposit when I was at school, too.

This was when I realized: I’m insane. Here I am spending precious time in my life – collecting cans. I get paid about $20-25 an hour at work, and I’m grabbing cans from people and places for five cents. It would take 400 cans to equate to my one hour of work. The math wasn’t adding up.

Sometimes it takes a mirror to realize how comical you look. 400 cans would easily take hours of time to collect, and then I’d be stuck transporting them to a designated refund location. Again, the math didn’t add up in time or money. Here I was trying to be frugal, but between the loss of time and the harm on the environment of driving to a collection facility, it was undermining my ambitions.

There are better ways to make five cents. Frugaling means more than scavenging for cans, doesn’t it?

But some habits die hard… As I flew back from Los Angeles to podunk Iowa, the stewardess handed me a full can of orange juice. As I poured the cold beverage into my single-serve cup, I wondered whether I should save the can. It’s worth five cents. Every little bit counts, right?